Don't let medical or dental providers give you the poison called Versed. The only people that this drug is safe for is the drug pusher! This drug allows care-GIVERS to be care-LESS with you. Not only was I shockingly poisoned against my will, but my surgery ORIF distal radius was carelessly done. We need health care reform and this is why...

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Another Victim

I get e-mails from fellow Versed victims. I know that the crna types who read this blog can't believe this! They invariably claim that *I* am the only person to ever have a bad reaction to Versed! Or they try to claim that *I* am too stupid to correctly identify which drug it was that I objected to... Wrong again! They try to claim that *I* must have been insane to start with.

I want to connect the dots for all those people who populate medical and dental buildings. Versed is a bad drug. It was bad for me, it's bad for others, I am not crazy, and I have identified which poison it is that has caused my bad reactions. All of them.

As proof, I submit yet another blog in which the author ALSO correctly identifies Versed as the source of unhappy side effects. As another problem with Versed, this person also was not properly consented for Versed. As you read the comments at the bottom where others opine that there was consent for Versed, I'm telling you there probably wasn't. All you medical types know perfectly well that most people would object to amnesia. You medical workers also know that most people are not going to be interested in amnesia instead of pain relief. Amnesia is the operative word and *I* have NEVER seen this word used, nor have I ever heard of a medical worker saying this word. This is a common thread throughout the Versed complaints. You can see my own "informed consent" back in my 2009 posts. I copied it and put it up on my blog in its original and untouched state. Go look at it and see if there is ANYTHING AT ALL about Versed, sedation, amnesia or anything like it. Nothing. Just a generic and illegal paper with absolutely nothing on it to make a patient think its an informed consent. Especially not for something like Versed. Anyway, enough about me, here is the link; Esprit de Carp - Now where was I?

Years ago I read about a drug that was used by obstetricians back in the benighted, paternalistic 1950s (and probably earlier). The purpose of this drug was to make women forget the ordeal of giving birth, so that they would happily repeat the hellish experience. I assumed that in our more enlightened era such sinister drugs were no longer in use.

Wrong! Yesterday I underwent a common, but potentially painful, procedure. No one asked me if I wanted the intravenous cocktail of fentanyl and midazolam, but I offered no objection. I figured it was in everyone's best interest for me to be docile and floaty. But I don't think I fully understood what the midazolam (brand name Versed) would do. In fact it's one of those amnesia-inducing drugs. For a period of about 30 minutes I could have been singing, telling jokes, screaming, snoring, or any number of activities that I will never remember.

As the Versed wore off, I remember talking with the doctor calmly and sensibly while he finished the procedure. So it could be that I was calm and sensible the whole time. If so, I would love to know what I heard and saw in my twilight stupor. If instead I was babbling incoherently for half an hour, I'd like to know about that, too. It bothers me that these so-called helping professionals routinely rob people of their memories without asking permission. I wonder how many of them take advantage of the opportunity to insult and mock patients who will never remember the humiliation.

Understandably, doctors would rather probe someone who's sedated, for the same reason that veterinarians prefer to clean the teeth of unconscious cats: It's safer for all concerned. But isn't it possible to dull the pain and ease the anxiety without messing with one's memory? Next time I'll insist on my right to remember how unpleasant the procedure was.

Actually this isn't the first time I've been tricked in this way ("Fool me once..."). When I had my wisdom teeth out, more than 40 years ago, I was given a mixture of Valium and Demerol, and no one told me that the Valium would induce anterograde amnesia. Maybe one insidious effect of these drugs is that you forget to make sure you don't get them again.

I do find it fascinating that memory formation can be chemically inhibited. Maybe if I'd gotten such a drug all my life, I'd be a happier person now (though I might be covered with tattoos and sticky notes).

I don't remember what I consented to. The facility's Web site doesn't have the form but does say this: "To be certain you are comfortable and relaxed, you will be sedated through an I.V. In fact, most patients are asleep during the entire process and remember little to nothing about it."

At least you remember talking with the doctor. No one told me either that I would have amnesia , or that it would last almost ten times longer than the procedure did. My consent form (which I have a copy of) merely said I would receive conscious sedation. I woke up in mid-sentence, arguing with a nurse. I didn't just feel tricked, I felt deceived. Patients should be informed and given the right to refuse an amnestic.

I can't say that no one told me. I knew I was getting such a drug. I was just too much of a wimp to refuse it, and at the time I didn't fully realize the creepiness of it. Maybe if I hadn't come to my senses for the last few minutes, I wouldn't be so incensed about it.

About Me

I was harmed by a commonly used VERsatile SEDative called Versed. Too many people are being callously given this little drug without proper explanation of the risks and side effects of it. Follow the money and you can see why! Along with unnatural obedience and amnesia this drug is driving the cost of any and all medical procedures through the roof. Add in the counseling and mood altering drugs needed for a lot of people to return to their previous mental state after being injected with this drug and you have the PERFECT drug to maximize profit for all concerned in the medical field. We are not cattle (cash cows) and should not be being treated as such by our medical people. Here are some tips for fighting back. KNOW YOUR ENEMY! KNOW THE LAW!
I also want to warn people not to accept an ORIF (open reduction, internal fixation) of the very common distal radius fracture. The volar plate and screws are causing a lot of problems for people after surgery and the surgery itself is very risky. Doctors are not telling patients about these enormous risks, but you can read what happened to me and make up your own mind. For myself I wish I had just stayed home.